Life is Such a Gift

[Michele Monro]

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her,
saying:

'Take good care of your eyes, my dear,
for before they were yours, they were mine.'

Life Is Such a Gift!

Today before you complain about life –
Think of someone who went much too early to heaven.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down –
Put a smile on your face and think:
You're alive and still around - Your life is such a gift

[Miss Brown to You]

THE GIFT OF TODAY

I hold a gift that's called Today,
and I don't need to borrow
anything from yesterday
and nothing from tomorrow.

The fleeting hours of Today
will hold sufficient pain;
Today may be my only chance
to savor what I gain.

So I will live my life Today,
not count on my tomorrows
nor dwell on yesterday's regrets,
its failures or its sorrows.

I'll just be grateful for Today-
enjoy each simple pleasure.
Today is such a lovely gift,
each moment is my treasure

[Marian]

My forgetter's getting better,
But my rememberer is broke
To you that may seem funny
But, to me, that is no joke

For when I'm 'here' I'm wondering
If I really should be 'there'
And, when I try to think it through,
I haven't got a prayer!

Oft times I walk into a room,
Say 'what am I here for?'
I wrack my brain, but all in vain!
A zero, is my score.

At times I put something away
Where it is safe, but, Gee!
The person it is safest from
Is, generally, me!

When shopping I may see someone,
Say 'Hi' and have a chat,
Then, when the person walks away
I ask myself, 'who the hell was that?'

Yes, my forgetter's getting better
While my rememberer is broke,
And it's driving me plumb crazy
And that isn't any joke.

I'm sure this must apply to more than just me!
Marian

[Marian]

Now for one a little more thought provoking..

What do you see, nurses, what do you see,
what are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes.
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
when you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try?"
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
and forever is losing a stocking or shoe.
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will
with bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.
Look At Me!

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
as I use at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,
brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
dreaming that soon a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty- my heart gives a leap,
remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own
who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty my young sons have grown and are gone,
but my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more babies play round my knee,
again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
and I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman and nature is cruel;
'tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
there is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
and now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
and I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years; all too few. Gone too fast,
and accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
not a crabby old woman; look closer- see ME!!


Remember this when you interact with an elderly person- because we'll all be there some day.

[keithgood838]

I read in yesterday's papers, a disturbing report
that stretches of south-west England's coastline,
including Mullion Harbour in Cornwall, are under threat
from rising sea levels. It reminded me of a poem sent
to me by a friend of many moons ago. Judith was possessed
of a rare gift: in her hands pen and paper became an artist's
brush and canvas:

SUMMER STORM AT MULLION
by Judith Smallshaw


Stormclouds knot their flying scud
into the feckless blur of spume,
spread savagely across the turbid sky,
and hide the sun.
Rampant, streaked with green and white,
crowding shoreward with their swelling thrust,
the mighty homing waves
burst and boil,
leaping against the harbour wall
and, for the span of an indrawn breath,
stand sentinel and high
then runnel down the pitted shield of stone.

Far out in the bay,
briefly elemental and intense,
a bright gleam snares a rolling flash of jade
and, up in the cavalry charge of cloud,
gulls scream against the onslaught of the wind ...

Keith

[Marian]

These are a couple of sayings I have always remembered, possibly the words are not absolutely as they originally were, but the meaning is..

"Go often to the house of a friend, for weeds choke up the unused path."
Hindu proverb.

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for in doing so, many have entertained angels unawares."

Marian

[keithgood838]

Here is my thought of the day,
offered with tongue in cheek.

FUNNY BUSINESS

Consider the convoluted credit crunch
caused by bungling bankers 'out to lunch'.
The bail-out scarcely seems to make much sense;
they use our cash to make profits at our expense,
and we lend Iceland millions to repay us:
the inmates take over the running of the madhouse.

Keith

[mariana44]

Here is my thought of the day--I remember when Iceland was called Bejam--no "Credit Crunches" in those days-I bough a Freezer there that lasted me 37 years !!!


[PS--that was a joke--Iceland and Bejams--the freezer part was true]

[Catherine M]

Any Human to Another by Countee Cullen

The ills I sorrow at Not me alone Like an arrow, Pierce to the marrow, Through the fat, And past the bone.

Your grief and mine Must intertwine Like sea and river, Be fused and mingle, Diverse yet single, Forever and forever.

Let no man be so proud And confident, To think he is allowed A little tent Pitched in a meadow Of sun and shadow All his little own.

Joy may be shy, unique, Friendly to a few, Sorrow never scorned to speak To any who Were false or true.

Your every grief Like a blade Shining and unsheathed Must strike me down. Of bitter aloes wreathed, My sorrow must be laid On your head like a crown.




Not Yet My Mother
by Sheers, Owen

Yesterday I found a photo
of you at seventeen,
holding a horse and smiling,
not yet my mother.

The tight riding hat hid your hair,
and your legs were still the long shins of a boy’s.
You held the horse by the halter,
your hand a fist under its huge jaw.

The blown trees were still in the background
and the sky was grained by the old film stock,
but what caught me was your face,
which was mine.

And I thought, just for a second, that you were me.
But then I saw the woman’s jacket,
nipped at the waist, the ballooned jodhpurs,
and of course the date, scratched in the corner.

All of which told me again,
that this was you at seventeen, holding a horse
and smiling, not yet my mother,
although I was clearly already your child.

[Miss Brown to You]

If we can laugh, our heart-aches disappear!
Our minds become freed off tensions and stress;
If we make others laugh, they lose their fear,
And become dear, starting to care.

Laughter is good for both the young and old;
Laughter can turn a foe into a friend;
Laughter can help forget our woes, be bold;
Laughter can bring to grief, an early end.

Laughter is life’s most precious medicine;
Laughter is soothing balm for all our ills;
Laughter is euphoric much more than wine,
Causing no harm to one or increase bills.

Then laugh and be merry whenever you can,
For, that’s the way to live life better!
Where words end .. smiles n touch n laughter gives meanings to the emotions of heart..
Wishing you lots of love n laughter in life

[Gray]

Not Yet My Mother has made me cry.
It's lovely.